I Know You're In There
by agent000
Summary: When Jack dies at the hands of Pitch, a magical loophole gives him another chance at life... by sharing a body with Jamie.
1. Chapter 1

_**So, I wasn't going to start posting this story until I had a few more chapters written, but it was hard to resist. I'm enjoying writing this story too much. :P**_

 _ **...And I was going to say something else. But I forgot what I was going to say. Hmmm... Yep. That's me for you guys. The space case. Hur dur! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story. :)**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own ROTG. I still can't figure out why we all say this since it should be obvious, but meh. I'm not going to be the odd one out and break tradition. Besides, I sometimes say funny things in the disclaimers, and I'd hate to break THAT tradition! Hehe...**_

The heart beating in my chest is not my heart. These hands are not my hands. Each breath I take in is not mine. I feel like such a thief, like I'm cheating death somehow. But I didn't mean to do this. Jamie did.

It was all because of a battle I had been in. A battle in which I remember very little, but that seemed to make a much bigger impact on my life than I ever would have given it credit for. A battle in which my life as I knew it would end for good.

Or rather, my life really did end in that battle. It didn't simply change.

How it happened, I can't tell you. My memories toward the end of that life are so muddled that I can't make heads or tails of them and have only the word of the Guardians to rely on, and I'm not entirely sure how trustworthy their memories are of the event considering their poor judgement directly afterwards.

I know that Pitch managed to kill me. I can feel it in my stolen bones. But I now live thanks to a stupid decision on their part. And on Jamie's.

I had known about the spell for a while now due to my having perused some of North's magic books back at the workshop, but I hadn't fully comprehended it then. I never would have expected they would use it on me to keep me from slipping out of this world.

But as soon as I opened my eyes on that fateful day, I realized exactly what had happened. And I wasn't pleased.

My palms began to sweat. I started shaking, and I began to hyperventilate. I grasped at the clothes on my chest, which were in fact not my clothes at all as they were way too small for my body, before I gazed up at the Guardians and croaked out a high-pitched, "Why?"

"We couldn't just let you die, Jack!" I could see the motherly concern on her face battling for dominance with the feeling of guilt, and I turned away, closing my eyes to shut off the reality of the world at present. I didn't want to see it.

"But Jamie has given permission, Jack," said North in an obvious attempt to stand behind Tooth. In another time, I would have joined him in doing so. But this time left me feeling alone and vulnerable. I didn't want to be near him. I didn't want to be near anyone. Keeping my eyes shut to the world, I scooted backward until I ran into a ball of fur.

"You know we wouldn't have used Jamie if we'd had a choice, Mate." Bunny laid his hand on my shoulder. I flinched out of his grasp. "We needed a blood relative for the spell to work, and we didn't have much time to find another one."

I gritted my teeth, then growled under my breath. My fingers worked their way up into my hair with a strong desire to wrench the hair out by the roots and ease my internal turmoil, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. It wasn't my hair to pull. "Did it never occur to you that letting a child make this sort of decision might be unethical?"

There was a pause in their speech, but I kept my eyes closed. I had no wish to see how they reacted to each other as they tried to reconcile their guilt over this. I was sure they had started a staring contest among themselves, daring each other to be the one to break the silence first. But none of them dared, as the guilt emanating off of them was enough to make my stomach turn, it was so thick.

A silent voice penetrated my thoughts.

 _Jack?_

I frowned in thought, trying to understand what was happening now. I felt this should be a simple thing to figure out, but everything was too confusing for me to sort out in an instant. It had all happened too quickly for me.

 _Are you mad at me, Jack?_

My frown faded, and I let loose a sigh before running my fingers through my hair, ever so gently. "I'm not mad at you, Jamie."

 _Then why do you sound so angry?_

I hung my head in shame. Jamie was not the one who should be punished for this situation. He had invested all the logic that a ten-year-old could possess into deciding what was the right thing to do. It was the Guardians who knew what would come in the aftermath, and yet they hadn't protected Jamie from making this decision that could very well make his life nearly impossible from now on.

"I'm mad at the Guardians, Jamie. Not you. It wasn't fair of them to ask you to do this. You're way too young to be expected to make such a decision."

 _But I couldn't just let you die, Jack._

I sighed and hid my face in my hands as I muttered a simple, "I know." And really, I did know. I understood very well what had prompted Jamie's decision. And I understood very well what had prompted the Guardians' decision. I can't say that I wouldn't have been tempted myself if it had been my sister's life on the line, but at least I would have been old enough to fully understand the decision I was making. This was not fair on Jamie, and he had yet to realize this.

"Jamie..." I tried to speak, but my voice cracked. It was hard to listen to myself speak in this high-pitched voice that was most definitely not my own. I was going to have to get used to it, or at least try. And it wasn't going to be easy. I cleared my throat to begin again. "Do you have any idea what was done to you?"

 _What do you mean?_

"I mean that this spell can't be reversed, not without killing both of us. You're stuck with me for the rest of your life."

 _I don't see a problem with that, Jack. You're my best friend._

"And you're mine too, Jamie." I sighed. "But sooner or later, you're going to understand why having two souls share the same body is generally a bad idea. I'm going to make your life very hard just by being here, and for that I'm so, so sorry."

A couple large paws grasped me under the armpits and lifted me to my feet, then carefully dusted me off. "Not sure what exactly you and Jamie are talking about, but we're sorry too, Mate."

I opened my eyes to see the other Guardians nodding in solemn agreement. They had made a hasty decision to keep me alive, the only decision they were aware of, and they were now having second thoughts. But those second thoughts had come too late. The spell had been cast. Jamie had accepted my soul into his body. There was no way to get me out now without killing Jamie too, and I wasn't willing to do that.

I nodded at the Guardians in solemn acceptance of my fate, knowing that they had meant well even if their decision had been poor in the midst of a crisis. I didn't hate them for this, but it was going to take a while before I was okay with this arrangement. If I ever was. Only time would tell in that regard.

Jamie's mother's voice floated over from somewhere nearby and I twitched, an instinctive reaction built into this body at hearing that voice. I wasn't ready to face her so soon, and I lost my grasp on maintaining control only to be swept under by something else. I lay there in confusion for a moment, only to realize the obvious. Jamie had pulled me back and taken back control for himself. We were sharing the same body. Either one of us could have control. I would have to get used to that.

"I'll talk to you guys later," said Jamie as he waved goodbye to the Guardians. I could still see clearly out of Jamie's eyes even if I was not the one controlling them, and what I saw was a startled look cross the Guardians' faces. They had noticed the change, but they had not been expecting it to happen that suddenly. At least they could tell us apart, I supposed. There was always a silver lining somewhere.

Jamie ran back to his house, past his mom standing on the porch, and pasted a phony smile on his face as he removed his coat and boots before moving toward the dinner table. I knew looking shaken about what had just happened would get his mom asking too many questions that we weren't ready to answer yet, and it seemed he did too. I just hoped we would reach a point of being able to speak of this soon, because I knew we wouldn't be able to hide it for long.

It was only a matter of time before one of us slipped up.

 _ **So what did you guys think? Any comments? Thoughts? Anything? My story stats are broken (I don't know if everyone is experiencing this or not) so I can't tell if you guys are reading the story unless you either review, favorite, or follow this story. So please, help me out a bit and find a way to let me know you're reading this if you please. It would really help me out a lot so that I can know how well this story is liked.**_

 _ **Thanks a lot for reading, and take care! I'll try to get the next chapter posted soon. :)**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Hey, everybody! The response to my chapter yesterday was wonderful! Thank you all for letting me know you were reading. I really appreciate that, more than you know.**_

 _ **(And if anyone else is wondering, I got two other people confirming the trouble with their stats page. It seems Fanfiction is having a bit of a glitch with that right now.)**_

 _ **Also, I got an interesting question last chapter that I thought would be worth bringing up here, since if it showed up right away in the first chapter, other people are probably wondering the same thing. I was asked if Jamie and Jack would be accused of having DID, a.k.a. multiple personalities. The simple answer to that is yes. I do want to clarify though that I know some people with DID and am having them beta read these chapters before I post them just to ensure they stay respectful even though Jack and Jamie don't actually have DID. But to the rest of the world, it'll look that way. So I'm trying to be extra careful. :)**_

 _ **In any case, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I haven't started owning ROTG since yesterday when I said I didn't own it, and I think it's highly unlikely that I'll start owning it tomorrow either. I think it's best to just assume that I'm never going to own it. :P**_

As eerie as was the feeling of giving away control to someone else, I couldn't have been more grateful at that moment that it was Jamie and not myself who dealt with interacting with his family during dinner. There were too many things I had yet to understand about how his family did things. Or even about human life in general, as that was what I was now. My body had died. I was now human. I didn't have any other body.

The Bennetts had the ritual of saying grace over their meal by having everyone at the table offer a brief prayer before anyone was allowed to tuck into their food. My family back when I had been human before had never said grace that way, with the result that I would have been left all mushmouthed had I been the one expected to dance through the family's rituals during dinner. As it was, Jamie performed beautifully, not even offering a hint that something bizarre had happened in his life that day.

The meal itself consisted of mashed potatoes and gravy along with a scoop of peas and some kind of meat, though I was no expert on meats and couldn't tell what it was, not even when Jamie started shoving it in his mouth. It was soft and tender, so I knew Mrs. Bennett was an amazing cook, but I also knew that I was painfully ignorant about the way this family lived their daily lives. I was going to have to be careful.

Dinner went fine until Jamie had reached the peas on his plate. Apparently he was opposed to consuming anything green and shaped like something that would have been a toy had it been bigger. Mrs. Bennett was opposed to him _not_ eating them. With the way the two of them came to a standstill on the issue, I guessed that this must be a regular battle in this house. I decided to intervene.

If Jamie was able to pull me back and take over, then I was sure I could do the same. I didn't know what I was doing as I had never had practice at doing this, but neither had he, yet he had still done a fantastic job of it. I mentally reached out and grasped onto a bit of what I felt was Jamie, then quickly pulled back before he had the time to realize what I was doing. He gasped at the sudden intrusion, prompting Mrs. Bennett to ask if he was alright. I didn't give him time to respond as I slipped in, back at the helm.

Jamie's mother's worried face continued to pore over me as I took a couple deep breaths to readjust, and I realized that I would have to be the one to answer her. I shook my head. "No. Er, I mean, yes. Yes, I'm alright." She didn't seem entirely convinced, but she forgot to argue about it as I picked up Jamie's fork and scooped a mouthful of peas into my mouth. From the look on her face, I gathered that she hadn't expected that of me. From the turmoil coming from inside my own head, I gathered that Jamie deduced that I was a traitor. Apparently pea-eaters were labeled traitors in Jamieland, but I didn't care. He was going to deal with much more frustrating things in life than my choosing to eat different things than him.

The look of shock on Mrs. Bennett's face was priceless, and I might have laughed if not for the terrible vibe I was getting from Jamie for doing this. "What on earth has come over you?" she said.

It seemed I was going to have to speak to her after all, though I had hoped I could get away with the one line I had offered earlier before disappearing back into the confines of Jamie's mind where I was less likely to blow my cover. I couldn't come up with any amazing remarks to say, so I just shrugged. "I just didn't feel like fighting about it tonight."

"Wow," she said, and a smile began to sneak its way onto her face. "That's very mature of you, Jamie." I flinched at being referred to as Jamie, but it seemed she hadn't noticed since she had already been moving to stand up. She reached over and ruffled my hair. "Someone gets to have dessert tonight."

The accusatory vibe within my head stopped in that moment and changed to one of awe, followed by one of excitement. Now that the pea fiasco was over with, Jamie realized that he could simply reap the benefits of what I had chosen to endure for myself. I knew he wanted to take back over, but as the little plate with a slice of homemade apple pie and a scoop of ice cream descended before my view, my resolve to stay and reap the benefits began to conflict with Jamie's attempts to cheat me of my reward.

This of course did not lead to a very happy Jamie, and the two of us squabbled internally for a couple minutes. If anyone but the two of us had been able to hear what was going on in our minds, they would have compared it to a screeching match between a couple parrots. Neither of us was willing to back down on this matter, causing the bizarre behavior of our fork moving to grab a bite of the pie, then changing its mind mid-stride and moving to another point of observation. I was sure that Jamie's mother was quite confused at our behavior, but she graciously said nothing.

I couldn't hold Jamie back, but neither could he hold me back when I was determined to stay in charge. The two of us were equally in command, which I suspect that Jamie hadn't realized when he had first agreed to this arrangement. Both of us gripped the fork, shoved it down into the pie, then awkwardly shoved the bite of pie into our mouth. It was when we actually tasted the food that we both started to relax a bit, and a weird feeling came over us.

I stopped knowing where Jamie ended and where I began. There was nothing bad about the feeling, but the realization of it was startling. Somehow I knew despite everything that this wasn't a permanent feeling. We would separate into our own identities again when at least one of us stepped down. Was this going to happen every time the both of us wanted to be in charge at the same time? Were we going to forget who was who? I guessed I had better get used to being called by Jamie's name then, and fast.

Mrs. Bennett brushed off our weird behavior as Jamie just being so excited about finally having dessert after I didn't know how long that he hadn't been able to think for a moment after seeing it. I supposed that assessment was close enough to the truth. He had acted a little recklessly upon discovering that he was going to be allowed to have dessert for once, but it had at least served to help me understand a little more of how this new arrangement worked. I may have been trapped in this body, but I was most certainly not a prisoner. I hoped Jamie would be able to deal with that, because he was going to have his hands full while dealing with me.

The pie finished, I no longer felt any urge to be in charge, lest I risk cluing in Jamie's mother that something strange was going on. I still didn't know what I was doing, and I certainly didn't know how to stop being in charge without Jamie yanking me back, but figuring these things out had been quite simple thus far. I took a deep breath and then mentally let go, then felt myself slide back to somewhere else. Where exactly that was, I couldn't say, but I was not in charge anymore. I was grateful enough for that.

Jamie's mom excused him from the table, beaming with pride at how her eldest child had finally been as mature as her youngest about the food on their plate. He didn't wait to ask her permission before he bolted for the coatrack and threw his coat and boots back on. His mother quirked an eyebrow at him wanting to go back outside so soon, but I knew well enough that Jamie had a tendency to do this sometimes. It seemed she knew it as well and decided to just let him be after reminding him to wear his hat.

Once we were outside, Jamie made his way over to the tree gracing the corner of his yard and slumped beneath it, resting his back against the trunk like it was a giant chair. He took a breath, but his breath hitched a couple times on the way out. I started to recognize the signs, and I wished I knew how to hug him in this state. The best I was going to be able to do was try to console him.

 _Hey there, are you okay?_

He blinked hard, and I knew tears were welling up behind his eyelids that he didn't want to admit to since I felt them too. I chose not to say anything about it.

"What did I get us into, Jack?"

I didn't answer for a moment. I wasn't entirely sure how to. Something about the situation at dinner had made him realize that life wasn't going to be rosy after the change that had come over us, but I wasn't sure which thing in particular had hit him with that realization.

Jamie opened his eyes and turned his gaze toward the night sky. I generally brought the clouds with me whenever I was in Burgess what with being a winter sprite and all, but after the fateful battle with Pitch, the clouds had dissipated to the point where the stars were peeking through. I had planned on sending several inches of snow to Burgess by tomorrow morning, but I was unable to do that now. I was human. I had no powers.

The tears that Jamie had been trying to hold back silently leaked down his face as he continued to look at the stars. He seemed to realize just what it meant for him to be able to see them at this time, and he hiccuped.

"What's going to happen to the snow now that you're in my body, Jack?"

I reached out toward him in an attempt to grasp onto his essence and hold him close. It was a pitiful imitation of a hug, but it was the best I knew how to do under the circumstances.

 _Don't worry about that, Jamie. Winter came and went long before I became Jack Frost, and it will continue to do so. All I did was keep it from getting out of hand, but there are other winter sprites who can do that if needs be._

Jamie silently mused on that for a moment. He didn't seem to much enjoy entertaining the thought that I wasn't needed in that department as much as he'd wanted to believe, and he closed his eyes and sighed. I was unsure what to think of this. On the one hand, I was saddened by his sadness, but on the other hand, I was touched that he held me in such high regard for what I did. Or rather for what I used to do.

"But the others won't be as fun as you."

 _No, I don't suppose they will. They're not the Guardian of Fun. I am._

Jamie pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them close. I wasn't sure whether this was an attempt to comfort himself or hug me, but I supposed it was the best he could do in either situation. "But you're not the Guardian of Fun anymore."

A ping like a jolt of electricity shot through me, and I fired back my response just as quickly.

 _Hey, not cool, Jamie! Just because I lost my powers doesn't mean I gave up my Guardianship. The oath said "forever", and I meant it._

He raised his eyebrows as he turned his face to look at the person he was trying to talk to, but soon decided better of that since the person he was talking to was stuck inside his own head. This was going to take some time for the both of us to get used to.

"But how can you help all the kids in the world when you're stuck in my body?"

He made a good point, but I wasn't going to back down from this. When I took an oath, I meant it. And if it said forever, then that was just what it was going to have to be.

 _I don't know. But I'll think of something. Just give me a little time to think on it._

He nodded, willing to accept that excuse for the time being, much to my relief. I didn't want to explain to him that it tore at the very core of my being to not know how to be a Guardian in this form, perhaps worse than how torn he was over it. But he probably knew what I was thinking anyway. I wasn't sure whether I could hide my thoughts from him like this.

"Jack," he said. I waited a moment, but whatever he had been about to say didn't come out. I needed to prod him to continue speaking his mind.

 _What is it, Jamie?_

He glanced around at the landscape. The stars that should not have been visible tonight. The snow on the ground that should have been piled higher. The remaining leaves on the tree that should have fallen off by now, but which stubbornly clung to autumn and refused to accept that times change. He then closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't have control."

 _Come again?_

"When we were in there eating dinner," he paused to lick his lips, which I knew meant he was trying to think of how to structure his words. "We, well, we started fighting over who got to be in charge. And I-I guess I thought I would win. Because it's my body, you know? Or it was." He sighed. "But I didn't win, did I?"

I would have shaken my head if I'd been the one in command at the moment, but I saw no need to take control in this situation. Especially since I wasn't sure that my doing so earlier hadn't scared Jamie, and I hated the thought of scaring him unnecessarily.

 _I'm afraid you didn't, Jamie. Both of us stayed in control through that. I don't think we can control each other._

Jamie shivered at that and wrapped his arms tighter around his knees. I just looked on sadly, wishing I knew something I could do. The poor boy clearly hadn't thought this through before making such a decision, but I hated to see him get so fearful of the consequences of it so quickly. If only I still had my powers, I would have known exactly what to do.

Something clicked in my mind, and a warmth like a smile spread through me as I realized something. The Man in the Moon had granted me the powers of winter, but the Fun had been in my core from day one. It was something he could neither give nor take away. I had learned how to infuse some of my spirit of fun into my powers, essentially creating an additional power, but that was something that wouldn't have left me upon losing my body. It was part of who I was. I still had that.

Taking this knowledge, I focused myself on the energy around me and began to reach for the energy that didn't feel like me. Jamie's energy. I couldn't just bombard him with magic snowballs, but I figured that if I wove a little of myself into his energy, he ought to cheer up.

Within moments, his breathing evened out, and he then closed his eyes in calm contemplation. I decided that that was enough for the time being and stopped what I was doing. Jamie still needed to be able to perceive the complications this arrangement involved without getting thrown into a drug-like stupor that rendered him unable to think, but he also needed to be calm enough to know that thinking was possible.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed early tonight," said Jamie, and he pushed himself to his feet. I offered my agreement at this plan. Some things were best sorted out during sleep, and I was sure that Sandy planned to keep a close eye on us on this first night to ensure we adjusted properly. We were likely to have some powerful dreams during the night.

Jamie stepped from the chill of the outside air into the warmth within the house, and for the first time in I don't know how long, the air didn't smack into me like the breath of an inferno. It actually felt pleasantly warm. I should have logically known it would, but I hadn't expected that, and I shivered. A shiver that manifested itself physically in the body.

Jamie wrapped his arms around his shoulders like he wanted to protect me, and I felt his eyebrows start to fuss as he tried to understand what had happened. "You okay, Jack?"

 _I'm fine. I was just startled by the warmth._

He nodded that he understood this as he stripped off his coat and boots and deposited them in their places by the door, then bolted past his mom while explaining that he was worn out and wanted to go to bed. Yet another thing that got her confused over her son's sudden burst of maturity. If she only knew how fast he son was likely to mature after having to deal with a challenge like what he was going through now. Sharing one's body was never an easy feat, no matter who one was sharing it with.

Soon he was in his bed, happily tucked under his covers and with the lights off, yet his eyes remained open despite everything. I knew he was tired, so I wondered what was keeping him from drifting off.

 _Is something the matter, Jamie?_

"It just feels so strange, Jack."

I chuckled internally, then chided him about how he really ought to communicate with me only through his mind and not his lips while he was anywhere his mother might hear him. He stuck his tongue out in response to that, but then sighed and thought back to me.

 _You're right._

I knew I was right. There was no point in dwelling on how I was right. So instead I directed him back to his earlier comment.

 _What feels so strange, Jamie?_

He shivered for a moment, then wrapped his arms around himself, which I supposed was his desperate attempt at giving himself a much needed hug. He closed his eyes, then answered me.

 _I just feel like there's something inside of me that isn't supposed to be there._

I laughed a moment at that, but thankfully didn't have the sound actually leave Jamie's lips.

 _You're meaning me, right?_

He closed his eyes and sighed.

 _I suppose so._

He turned over in his bed and tried to readjust to get himself more comfortable, but it was all in vain.

 _It just feels so... weird. I feel like there's something inside of me that I have to get out before I fall asleep. Like my body won't let me sleep until I do._

I couldn't say I didn't understand that. My feelings were similar, even if they were the direct opposite. I felt like I had been locked up in a small space, and consequently felt mildly claustrophobic over the whole ordeal and desperately wanted to be free. But I knew I would never be free like that again. Not in Jamie's lifetime, anyway.

A trail of dreamsand flickered into view in the corner of my eye, but it seemed Jamie hadn't noticed it yet. I could feel the dreamsand trying to draw near, but unable to get close since Jamie was as of yet too resistant to sleep for it to work. I had to distract him.

In one swift movement, I extended my consciousness to surround all of Jamie's energy, then began to bombard him with my own feeling of fun. It wasn't intended to make him get the giggles, though I knew he would if Sandy didn't intervene soon, but it was meant to distract him long enough for the dreamsand to swoop in and knock us out.

Within less than a moment, Jamie shivered as though he had been jolted by a shock of electricity, and the dreamsand took advantage of this distraction to sweep in and slam into us. I felt my senses begin to numb as I lost my grip on the waking world. Good. We needed to sleep. We needed this to be able to adjust to this new life.

Just before we closed our eyes, I looked up and caught sight of Sandy smiling down at us. With one last bolt of strength, I managed to force out the words, "Thank you," before I lost control and fell into peaceful oblivion.

Never had I been so grateful to lose control in all my life.

 _ **Okay, chapter two down! Again, any sorts of hints that you're reading this would be most helpful. Thoughts and questions are welcome too. I really don't mind. (I tend to enjoy them, actually. They make me think.)**_

 _ **Anyway, thanks for reading this, and I hope to see you all again soon!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**I'm really glad that you guys seem to be enjoying this story as much as you are thus far! Despite Fanfiction's stats not working, you guys are still managing to send me reviews, faves, alerts, and PMs just to let me know you're reading this. I really appreciate that. More than you know. :)**_

 _ **Anyway, let's not waste any more of your time, since I know you all want to get reading!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I didn't own it last time and I don't own it this time. Didn't I say to just keep assuming I wouldn't own ROTG? Because I still don't own it.**_

It felt like I had been dreaming all night. As such, when the alarm went off the next morning, I was barely able to bring myself to reach over and grab the thing to figure out how to shut it up. It took a couple minutes of fiddling with the thing before I finally hit the right lever and was met with blessed silence, but once I did, a jolt of anxiety ran through my being.

I was suddenly aware of where I was, which meant being aware of what had happened the previous day. All thoughts of that having been one of the myriad of dreams I'd had during the night flew out the window, right along with my courage. The only solution seemed to be to not even bother starting the day, and so I did what any normal ten-year-old would do when faced with a crisis like this. I plopped back into bed and buried my face under my pillow. I figured that if I was in the body of a ten-year-old, I had every right to act like one.

Pity Mrs. Bennett didn't agree. Within about five minutes of my alarm going off and my not showing any sign of life, she had barged into the room, probably to make sure no one had died. Upon concluding that there was no carnage in the room, she then proceeded to do the next adultly duty of extricating my tense little fingers from the fluffy protection surrounding my head. This was not a battle easily won on her part though, as I was quite determined to stay in fluffy pillowy oblivion for the day.

"Come on, Jamie," she said. "I know you don't enjoy school all that much, but you still have to go."

I jolted. School? No one had mentioned this as part of the deal. I was going to have to go to school? No. No way. I had already done my time. I was not going back to school. I was willing to get a job if I had to, though it would probably involve delivering newspapers or something since there weren't many jobs available to someone Jamie's age. But school? No-sir-ee. Count me out.

"Go away," I said.

The woman laughed, actually _laughed._ How sadistic was this woman? "Sorry, Jamie, but you gotta do what you gotta do." She then wrenched the pillow out of my hands and threw back the covers. The sudden chill that hit my skin shocked me for a moment, but she was out of luck here, because she had no clue that someone who was used to far colder temperatures than this was currently in charge of this body. It would take a lot more than that to get me out of the safe little squishy place.

I grasped a piece of the headboard with both hands and clung to it for dear life. Mrs. Bennett tried to pull me out of bed, but was met with failure. She scoffed at her current incompetence. "What has gotten into you, Jamie? Did you have a bad dream or something?"

Maybe, maybe not. I was still trying to decide whether the things I was going through while awake counted as a nightmare. I wanted to go back to sleep now. Sleep was much safer.

She grasped my hands and began to pry my fingers away from the headboard. I fought back as hard as I could, but it was no use. She was actually _stronger_ than me. How dare she? Since when had she taken lessons in evil to figure out how to strong arm Jack Frost out of bed? She was going to wake up one of these days to a very cold bed.

That last thought sobered me up. I wasn't Jack Frost anymore, was I? I was Jamie Bennett. The name followed the body, not the soul. So even though there were two of us in here, we had one name. This was why she could force me out of bed. She was used to running Jamie off to school, and I was now just an extension of Jamie for all she knew.

Once out of bed, she rifled through Jamie's closet and pulled out several items of clothing and tossed them on the bed, instructing me to hurry up and get dressed, then come down to breakfast. After that, she left the room to attend to whatever other motherly duties she had on her agenda. She was probably off to wake up the Sophie Monster next.

I couldn't even think about the clothes, or about eating, or about getting ready for school. I slumped back onto the bed and stared into the abyss just past my nose. My shoulders began to shake, and I closed my eyes and chided myself for overreacting. After all, it wasn't like I wasn't having all my needs met. I should just be grateful that I wasn't being forced out onto the street and starved to death or something. But despite my logical approach, the shoulders had other ideas, and they continued to shake. And then I began to cry.

 _Are you okay, Jack?_

I was almost startled to finally hear Jamie's voice inside my head after that whole ordeal with his mother, but I couldn't answer him. I wasn't sure if it was because I was too upset at the moment or if I just honestly didn't know whether I was okay. Either way, the tears ran down my cheeks, not freezing on my face as I had become so used to over the centuries as Jack Frost. And I just continued to feel stupider the longer I reacted in this way.

My emotions must have gotten louder than I'd thought, because after a few moments, the bedroom door flew open and in walked Mrs. Bennett wearing a concerned look on her face. "Jamie, honey, what's wrong?"

I shook my head. She was going to be waiting a long time if she wanted me to tell her, because even I didn't entirely know. And since Jamie wasn't forcing his way into having control at the moment, I was just going to sit here crying until I was done crying. Telling myself it was stupid seemed to do nothing. It seemed to make it worse, in fact.

Suddenly a couple warm arms encircled me and pulled me close, and Mrs. Bennett spoke softly while stroking my hair. "Shh, Jamie, it's okay. It was just a bad dream."

I supposed it was natural for her to assume that this had all been the result of some dream, but I was afraid it wasn't going to be that easy to calm me down. She continued to hold me and speak comforting thoughts all the while I flooded Jamie's room with several rivers of tears and even a lake somewhere. If I'd had enough time, I might have been able to cry enough to break up Jamie's bedroom Pangaea. Then he would have to swim from one piece of furniture to the next. The little stinker would probably actually love that.

But as it turned out, Jamie's body had a failsafe installed in it that only provided me with a set amount of tears, and it wasn't long before I ran out of them, so I resorted to a series of hiccups, which I was sure I could do for a good duration of time without running out of those. Mrs. Bennett started rubbing my back to help me ease out of them. I supposed that was for the best. The hiccups really weren't as satisfying as the tears.

Eventually I stopped having the energy to either hiccup or cry, and so she gave my hand a reassuring squeeze and said, "Why don't you come down and have some breakfast? I'll make pancakes today. Would you like that?"

I wanted to say that nothing could make me feel better right now, but my head had other ideas and just nodded. Maybe it was Jamie who was nodding. Or judging from the growl that suddenly emanated from my stomach, maybe it really was just the body answering for itself. And it wanted pancakes. I sighed and gave in. There was no sense in punishing both Jamie and the body simply because I was having a fit of melancholia.

She ushered me downstairs and then began mixing up a batch of pancake batter. At one point, she glanced up to see how I was doing. My head still hung low and my shoulders slumped like someone had stuck a pin in me and a lot of the air had leaked out. She sighed in concerned and then pulled a package of blueberries out of the freezer and sprinkled them in the batter. Jamie's energy perked up at the sight of that. I supposed this was a common cheer up technique in this house, but I wasn't sure it would work on me.

A moment later, the smell of frying pancakes drifted over to me and left me with the conflicting feelings of hunger and nausea. My body definitely wanted food, but my spirit was too broken to deal with it. Unless Jamie chose to step up and take over for me, I was going to have to struggle to get anything down. I knew he had to eat before going off to school, but it wasn't going to be easy for me. Not today.

A plate of pancakes crossed my vision and settled in front of me. A couple pats of butter topped the stack of pancakes and began to drizzle their way over the rest of the pancakes due to their warmth. Then Mrs. Bennett added a generous portion of maple syrup to the pancakes and shoved the plate at me, telling me to eat up. I just sat there, unsure of what to do.

The pancakes smelled amazing, and I loved the flavor of maple. Since it stays cold in parts of Canada longer than in most other parts of the world, I had always had the privilege of being able to snack on some of their treats when I wasn't pressed for time to deal with other things. And so maple became a sort of addiction to me during certain parts of the year, no matter what they had put it in. But the sight of it right now just tied my stomach up in knots.

For all I knew, I might never see Canada again. Or any other country, for that matter. I was no longer the spirit of winter. What need did I have to leave the country now? My eyes hurt like they wanted to shed some more tears, but they hadn't yet replenished their reserves, so they just continued to sting.

"Aren't you going to eat, Jamie?"

I sighed. There was no need to freak out Jamie's mother over my own existential crisis. I picked up the fork and grabbed a bite of food and shoved it in my mouth. It was hard to chew and even harder to swallow, and I still felt nauseated once it had actually gone down. But Jamie had to eat, so I continued to eat the next bite, and the next, just counting off on my fingers how many bites were left until I could stop eating.

When the plate was finally empty, I threw the fork on it with an audible clank, and then I groaned. I felt sick. I doubted the pancakes had done this to me, but I was sure they weren't helping. I was just too stressed to deal with anything.

Mrs. Bennett noticed my reaction and asked if I was feeling well, to which I shook my head in reply. She then pulled back her sleeve and placed her wrist again my forehead, frowned, and then stood back up. "Well, you seem a tiny bit warm. I'll let you out of school if you're willing to go see the doctor later today."

I groaned in protest, but couldn't give any further response than to shrug. School sounded unappealing. The doctor sounded unappealing. The only thing that sounded peaceful at the moment was sleep, and I assumed the only way I was going to get that at all was to take the choice that involved the doctor, since that probably wouldn't take all day. Unless the doctor had some sort of magical detection device that would notify him of an intruder in Jamie's body, but I doubted that humans had such instruments.

"Well then, why don't you just go and get yourself some more sleep, and I'll come and get you when it's time to go to the doctor's."

I nodded and shakily got to my feet. She wrapped her arms around me and planted a kiss on my forehead, causing me to flinch from the contact. "Feel better soon, honey." She then let me go and I made my way back up the stairs.

I plopped back into bed and buried my head under the pillow and started to cry again. No tears came out this time since I had used them up, but Jamie's body didn't seem to have gotten the memo. After a while, it realized that using all this energy to cry was downright exhausting, and it decided that sleep might very well be a good idea. I didn't argue. I sighed in relief as I slipped back into oblivion. I hoped that the next time I woke up, things would be better.

 _ **...And thus ends another chapter.**_

 _ **Interesting tidbit that I've forgotten to mention for the past few chapters: Did you guys realize that this is more or less a rewrite of a fanfic I wrote nearly a decade ago? Well, it sort of is and sort of isn't, since the story's going to end up being waaaaaaaaay different, but the premise is very similar. If you're curious about how much I've improved over the years and how much I've changed the story, feel free to scroll down through my profile and check out, "My Body, Your Soul". (Not "My Body, Your Soul Revised" though. I'm directing you to the original one, unless you REALLY want to check up on all the permutations of this story that I've done over the years, haha.) It's for a different fandom of course, though I generally conveyed what I was getting at regardless of whether people knew the fandom because I kept having people who weren't in the fandom reading the story. *scratches head* Also the big shocker of how poorly I wrote back then might catch you off guard. ;) You won't be able to predict this story by reading that one, but I'm sure you could find a little amusement in comparing the two.**_

 _ **Anyway, thanks a bunch for reading this. I hope you all enjoyed it! Please keep sending clues that you're reading this, since my stats still aren't working. No idea how long Fanfiction is going to drag this out. *sighs* The clues really help though, since I update faster when I know my story is being read. And expressing thoughts or questions on the story can give me inspiration too, so don't be afraid to challenge me with something if it strikes you. :)**_

 _ **In any case, I hope to see you all next time! Take care!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Hey there, peeps! I'm sorry, I was going to update this yesterday, but Fanfiction had other ideas it seems. I couldn't even log into my account yesterday. Meh. Oh well, at least it seems I can do it today, so yays? *coughs***_

 _ **Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you all like.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Still don't own the ROTGness. Still see no point to these disclaimers either since you all know I don't own nuttin'.**_

The ticking clock did nothing to ease my worries as it chugged in and out of my dreams, reminding me that I couldn't immerse myself within them for that much longer. Then Mrs. Bennett's voice pierced through into my dream, slicing through my peaceful oblivion and forcibly dragging me back to reality. And seeing reality once again reminded me of why I had been nauseated, as it was tempting to continue that trend.

A gentle hand shook my shoulder as it guided me out of the land of dreams and into this land that I preferred to forget about for the time being. "Come on, Jamie. It's time to go see the doctor."

I groaned and threw my head beneath the pillow in an attempt to stifle a whimper. I'm not sure I managed to hide it from Mrs. Bennett though.

 _Jamie, where are you? Do you really have to make me be the one to deal with your mother and the doctor right now?_

Jamie had barely been present all day, and I had just assumed it was due to exhaustion from the day before. I never would have suspected that it might be down to him being sly.

 _But you're the reason she's taking us to the doctor, Jack. If I were to switch places with you now, it would look bad._

I groaned again and attempted to find a place where I could bury my face even deeper, but failed to find the elusive safe place.

 _You're doing this on purpose, aren't you, Jamie?_

The resulting chuckle convinced me of Jamie's inner level of evil that had never had the chance to spring out and reveal itself before I had been graciously shoved into the same space Jamie's soul occupied. Why did my best friend have to be so evil? What had I done to deserve such a fate?

The pillow disappeared, and that same gentle hand from before was now joined by its fellow hand as they grasped me under my arms and lifted me to a sitting position. Mrs. Bennett's smile faltered, but she pressed a new one onto her face in a pitiful attempt to cheer me up. "I realize you're not feeling well, Jamie, but that's why we need to get to the doctor. We need him to figure out what's wrong, okay?"

I nodded, but that didn't mean I felt it was okay. I had just reached a point of being unable to speak my mind. I hated to admit it to myself when I knew all too well that Jamie was listening in, but I had always held a bit of a fear of doctors. They had done nasty things to their patients at times back in the days when I was human, and then when I was a winter sprite, I knew very well that if I ever got hurt and a human managed to catch me, to never let them take me to a human doctor. Human methods would most likely only kill a winter sprite.

And now I was no longer a winter sprite, and human doctors were no longer so barbaric, in this country at least, but I was still faced with dread. I was so reluctant to deal with this situation that I could barely even move. Did Jamie have some reason for trying to make me experience this? I definitely hoped he did, and I hoped it was a damn good reason because this was just kind of mean.

Mrs. Bennett noted my problem, and proceeded to pick out a set of clothes for me and help me into them. Clothes which seemed entirely too small for me, but which I fit into perfectly. This made me very uncomfortable. I wondered if Pitch would have enjoyed watching me struggle as a human child in this way. He might have even been okay with knowing that I had survived his attack just so long as he could watch me squirm.

The clothing changed, she lifted me to my feet and led me down the stairs, then picked up her coat and purse on the way as we made our way out the door. She never bothered to force me into a pair of tiny Jamie-sized shoes, which I supposed was a minor relief. It seemed that she kept a pair in the car just so Jamie could run off to unknown destinations without putting his shoes on ahead of time. Had Jamie picked up that habit from me? I wouldn't have been a bit surprised.

I struggled with the seatbelt a couple times before Mrs. Bennett had to help me with it. She hadn't batted an eye over my struggle, so I guessed that either Jamie routinely struggled with the thing or it just made sense to her that I would struggle with everything when I was this out of it. I assumed the latter.

Driving to the doctor wouldn't have been nearly so bad if not for the singing. Apparently Mrs. Bennett had decided that the best way to cheer me up would be to have a sing-a-long, which actually would have amused me if I had been in my normal body and was just tagging along for the ride. But now we were driving toward a place that scared me without having either Jamie or Sophie around to back me up with their voices. I did not want to sing, and I covered my ears.

All too soon, we arrived at the doctor's office, and I was ushered into the waiting room while Mrs. Bennett went up to the counter to deal with the adult part of the ordeal. I didn't know much of what to do to distract myself, but I had to ensure somehow that I wouldn't panic, so I grabbed a nearby copy of Highlights Magazine and began flipping through it. Reading was still a challenge for me at times since I had never learned properly back when I'd been mortal, and I'd only had the chance to pick it up in bits and pieces over the years. But the magazine was kid-friendly and had a number of cute pictures, which allowed me to focus on something other than the bombardment of words for a time.

Jamie's mom came back and sat next to me, laying a hand on my knee and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry, Jamie," she said. "Everything will be alright. The doctor will figure out what's going on."

Uh huh. If he did, then I would have a lot of questions to ask of him, since he would have somehow been aware of the presence of spirits and magic spells. If she'd wanted someone to have even a clue what was going on, she should have skipped the doctor and consulted an exorcist. They wouldn't have been able to break this spell, but they might have at least been able to explain to her what was really going on.

A call of "Jamie Bennett?" coming from the mouth of a complete stranger jarred me from my attempted reading, and I looked up to see a man in a long white coat who stood there waving for me to follow. Mrs. Bennett gave me another reassuring squeeze, then helped me to my feet.

He led us through a couple halls and into a little room where he instructed me to hop up onto what looked like something that couldn't decide whether it was a chair or a bed. And it was covered in a sheet of paper for whatever reason. I wanted to draw on it, but I couldn't see any crayons or pencils nearby. Was that not the intent? It seemed a good way to keep kids calm to me.

The doctor tapped his pen onto his clipboard, then looked up at me, smiled, and introduced himself. He then turned to face Mrs. Bennett and said, "So, what seems to be the problem?" She then rehashed everything that had happened that day and emphasized how unusual my behavior was. I shrank into a smaller version of myself. It had never been my intention to stand out that much.

The doctor then turned back to face me, smiled again, and then said, "Okay, Jamie, we're going to do a number of basic tests just so we can see if we can figure out what's going on. Think you can be a big boy and work with me?" I gave him a deadpan stare and didn't dignify that stupid question with a response. I'm pretty sure that my stare made him uncomfortable, because he then cleared his throat and said, "Okay then, well, let's start by taking a look inside your mouth."

I was then subjected to having someone's fingers other than Tooth's poking around in my mouth, and I was surprised to discover that I would have actually preferred to let Tooth do it. The rubber on the guy's gloves didn't taste all that great.

He grabbed a piece of wood and pressed it on my tongue, then shined a light into my mouth and commanded me to "Say 'aah'." This whole thing seemed so stupid to me, but I did as I was told so as to avoid the frustrated looks of Mrs. Bennett that would inevitably result from my lack of cooperation.

Once he was done with my mouth, he went on to poke and prod at me with every instrument he could as he checked out my ears, lungs, heart, and even my knees. I had to admit that I was quite proud that I had been able to kick him in the face when he smacked me just below the knee and I didn't get yelled at for it. He seriously should have seen that coming. If he couldn't learn to dodge flying Jack feet, or flying Jamie feet I suppose they were, then he totally deserved to get kicked in the face.

Finally satisfied with all the poking and prodding that he had subjected me to, he pulled up a chair next to me and sat, looking as friendly as he could possibly achieve with this kid who wanted nothing to do with him. "So, Jamie," he said, "How are things in school?"

"Fine," I said.

"Okay," he said, "what about at home? You getting along with your sister?"

I nodded. That seemed to surprise him. I wondered if he thought I was lying.

"Well, what about your friends? Are you having trouble with any of them?"

"Not really," I said.

He continued to prod me with question after question, me barely dignifying his questions with the vaguest of answers. Somehow he still found things to write on his clipboard despite it all. Perhaps what I was saying wasn't necessarily all that he was searching for, but _how_ I said it.

Finally he stopped prying at me with questions long enough to stand up and promise to be back within a few minutes. He then left us alone in the room, Jamie's mom staring at me with concern as he did so. I squirmed under her gaze. Was I really acting that un-Jamie-like? Then again, I probably was. Jamie was normally sweet and cheerful, and he was still quite the optimist even when he wasn't. Yet here I was, being the little pessimist I could sometimes be when I really didn't like a situation. I supposed that was enough to raise alarm bells in most mothers' heads.

The doctor soon returned, smiled at me and Jamie's mom, then took his rightful place back in his chair. "Well, the good news is that your son appears to be in perfect health."

Mrs. Bennett's eyebrows rose up slowly in confusion. "But then why has he been acting so strange?"

The doctor sighed and glanced back down at his clipboard. "I don't know all the details, but he seems to be under some sort of emotional distress. I would recommend that you have him speak with a professional counselor or talk therapist. They would be more qualified than I am to figure out what's bothering him."

A hand flew to cover Mrs. Bennett's mouth. Apparently hearing that her son had mental problems was not what she had been expecting to hear. "Oh my goodness! But whatever could have caused this?" She worriedly ran her fingers through her hair. "Could it have something to do with the divorce?"

The doctor shrugged. "It's hard to say, but a divorce can have a pretty strong effect on kids. So you never know." Finally remembering that I was in the room, he turned back to me and flashed me with another one of his fake smiles. "So yeah, isn't that great, Jamie? You're perfectly healthy."

"I guess," I grumbled.

Deciding I was a lost cause, he turned back to face Mrs. Bennett and gave her some final instructions on how and where she could get help and what to do if I did anything that she found particularly upsetting, and then he ushered us back out into the waiting room. We bundled ourselves back up and then went back out to the car, riding home in silence for most of the way.

It might have gone without incident if she hadn't suddenly decided to list off the names of a couple therapists she knew that she considered to be possible options for me to talk to. I had had enough, and I clasped my hands over my ears and screamed for her to stop, which almost resulted in her slamming on her brakes in the middle of traffic.

Thankfully we had managed to avoid an accident, but she then planted me with one of her worried mom looks and said, "Jamie, whatever is the matter?" I couldn't tell her, so I just shook her head. She sighed and resigned herself to looking back at the road. "You know whatever is going on, you can tell me, right?" I nodded, but I didn't believe it. There was no way I could tell her about what was really going on.

And there was no way I was going to willingly subject myself to talk therapy.

 _ **Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter!**_

 _ **It looks like Fanfiction might have finally fixed their story stats problem, which is great if they did, but would you all be willing to help me test it by showing me that you've read this? I know approximately how many hits I should be getting for the amount of feedback I get, so that would let me know if it's truly working again, which would be tremendously helpful. Anything is good: reviews, faves, follows, PMs, whatever you're comfortable with. And your thoughts and questions are welcome too. I may be a bit of a spacecase and forget to answer every review at times (even though I try to), but I'll always do my best to answer your questions. So don't be afraid to ask! :)**_

 _ **Take care, guys, and I hope to see you all again next time!**_


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